By Mimansa Shekhar

Copyright timesnownews

Park Hyung-Sik found himself at the centre of a controversy regarding his payment for the latest Disney+ show Twelve as compared to his previous hit, Doctor Slump. The beloved South Korean star reportedly charged an exorbitant amount of salary that allegedly became a major share of the entire budget. Infact, Ma Dong-Seok who has written and also stars in the show alongside Park is also part of the trouble. Park, Ma’s alleged salary for Twelve Earlier this week, reports surfaced that both Park and Ma’s fees surged the show’s budget which ultimately bombed in ratings. It stated that Park allegedly charged 400 million KRW per episode, taking his total fee to USD 23.1 million (above Rs 200 crores). It was heard that Park earned 500 million won per episode for Doctor Slump. Meanwhie, the report also stated that Ma’s return to Korean projects with Twelve got him 500 million KRW (about $361,000 USD) per episode, taking his 8-episode total fee to a staggering 40 billion KRW (about $28.9 million USD). Twelve’s poor ratings and actors’ fees Twelve released on August 23 with good ratings. But soon, the multi-starrer highly anticipated show’s numbers started plummeting and came down to as low as a dismal 2.4% rating nationwide (according to Koreaboo). This was allegedly in sharp contrast with what the remaining cast of the ensemble got paid. Popular actors like Seo In Guk, Kang Mina and Lee Joo Bin were poorly paid to as low as USD 722,000K (less than one billion KRW). Insiders claimed that 34% budget went to Park and Ma, thus forcing the makers to cut down the production cost in the second half of the series. Fans defend Park Park’s fans were quick to come to his defence. Many slammed the reports citing them unconfirmed that called him as a reason behind the show’s failure. A fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Releasing statement regarding a payment fee is that really necessary, we see such nasty articles everyday about different actors, hyungshik is that big and deserves whatever payment any fake bloggers are accusing him of.” Another fan posted, “Feels like people treat artists as branded items… it’s upsetting… After all, it’s the industry that is working this way. Hope fellow SIKcrets will find some warm words for #ParkHyungSik and share with him in hi& or fancafe (we know he still reads it)” Park Hyung-Sik’s agency responds Now, Park’s agency has outrightly denied the salary claims. On September 17, RÊVE Entertainment issued a statement refuting all speculations over his pay. It read: “Hello, this is RÊVE Entertainment. We would like to deliver our official position regarding the reported appearance fee of actor Park Hyung Sik. From Doctor Slump to the recent Twelve, the reports about Park Hyung Sik’s appearance fees revealed through the media are not true. Since these false claims are being treated as facts, we are releasing this official stance. Actor Park Hyung Sik approaches every project with sincerity. We would be grateful if you could continue to watch over his future activities warmly.” Park Hyung-Sik, highest paid Korean actor? Many are now questioning the agency’s statement and wondering how Park was declared the highest paid Korean actor after he replaced Kim Soo-Hyun when the latter’s dating scandal with Kim Sae-Ron surfaced earlier this year. A netizen reacted, “embarrassing park hyung sik was mature but just like most of korean people he too used kim soo hyun scandal for his benefits now it is backfiring since he can not deliver hits on his own. hyung sik will never be a top actor as he does not have kim soo hyun aura.” Actors surging their fees is leaving many concerned who believe this trend is pushing overall production costs and straining the industry. It was earlier claimed that actor Lee Jung-Jae was paid $1 million (1.3 billion KRW) per episode for Squid Game.